Big

This painting is real big - 24 x 36 inches big.

It's for sale for £150 + P&P.

I'm bringing it to the party - that's Paint Party Friday - but I promise it will behave and not get drunk and chat up the best looking men. It's just gonna hang out on the wall and observe. OK?

I think I'd like to go to a party where all the guests turn up with a painting instead of a partner. They might not leave with the same painting, but it's unlikely to end in divorce. Though maybe a small dose of regret.

I will miss this painting when it goes, although there is a raspberry pink stain on the patio where the drips missed the newspaper that will serve as reminder. That and the vandyke brown down my fingernails which appears to require a chisel to remove...

This painting has its eye on an owner with mushroom walls. It wants to hang over a fireplace or strategically placed on a feature wall. It has a warm and welcoming personality with a hint of the exotic. It enjoys a nice hot curry and the kind of music that makes your hips wiggle. Will you invite it into your home?

Landscrape

What's occuring?

I've come over all Welsh. Tidy.

Well, perhaps that's a slight exaggeration, but this is the first of two pieces inspired by the singing in the valleys, the daffodils and the burly men playing rugby like their life depended on it. I'm also writing in a Welsh accent - can you tell?

So, while I was seeking inspiration for the Postcard Challenge - I found a photograph of Snowdonia online - one of those magical scenes where the sun has managed to find a way through the stormy skies lighting up the landscape from underneath the clouds in a slightly other-worldly fashion.

It's been a while since I attempted to paint the great outdoors and so to make it doubly hard on myself I decided not to use a paintbrush! I got my palette knife out and dragged and stippled the acrylics then touched up with oil pastels. The rocks and dry stone wall though had a secret ingredient to help add a little texture....

So, this could be my postcard... but I've had another slightly more ridiculous idea that I am about to attempt... If you come back tomorrow and there's not one of the Bee Gees on here then it all went horribly wrong...

You're getting this for Paint Party Friday on a Thursday night (it's that new blog party thing - you must have heard of it?!)

PS - See that button on my sidebar... the one at the top... ?

The Neverending Painting

Is it finished? Is it? You tell me!

The final canvas from Flora Bowley's workshop at the Do What You Love Retreat. It bears little resemblance to what I brought home. Those on the workshop might remember the memaid who then got painted over! The face reappeared in a different spot on the canvas, but clearly she was determined to be seen! What do you think? Is it too 'busy' now? Does the composition work?


Last time I joined the Paint Party Friday crew she was moving in this direction. Did I got too far?

What do you think? Is it too 'busy' now? Does the composition work?

Pots of gold

I've flung every colour of the rainbow into this as I'm sure you can tell. As I was gazing into its depths trying to decide what to do next, what theme to pick, colour to lead with I pondered on the metaphor that links with my life. Yes, I'm about to get all deep and meaningful here... you may wish to jump a couple of paragraphs to where I start talking about the painting again and fairies and stuff...

Right now I feel like I'm experimenting with every opportunity on the creative spectrum. I can't resist trying something new, sampling this, dabbling in that. I'm not sure where my business should go either. The core is the writing and that's how it will stay. I love it and it pays the bills. Why ask for more?

But then there's this art thing... You see I adore painting. It does something deep inside me and awakens this little magic spark. I'm like this piece you see here - a bit here, a bit there, staring to focus on one thing but finding something interesting elsewhere to take my attention. Somewhere at the end of this is my pot of gold but right now I'm not sure where it is or what's in it!

I've taken some advice though and hoping to hone in how I can juggle both writing and art and make enough money to do all things I want to do (and buy more paint!). I just need to focus.

For now, back to the painting:

Using lessons learnt from Flora Bowley's classes at the Do What You Love retreat, I've layered up colour and texture. I've let colour flow and the painting come to me. Listening to your painting is quite something - I highly recommend it. I'm seeing the rich florals of a summer garden bursting into life in the heat of the sun. Or fairy lanterns perhaps dancing in the twilight. There's also the beginnings of the outline of a dancing woman. Where will it go?

Right now the focal points appear to be the areas of strong orange. Are they enough? Does the eye travel around the piece as it should? Was does it need to lift it to life?

While I leave you to ponder, I'll return to my 5 year plan. I'm determined to go places dear readers...

Appropriately, the theme at Inspiration Avenue this week is 'over the rainbow'.

PS: Thank you for all the get well wishes. They must have worked because I am feeling a whole lot better today. Big smiles and hugs all round.